


Simple Observation

by Dunuelos



Series: Harry Potter, Lone Traveler [59]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Historical - Fandom
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-16
Updated: 2019-08-16
Packaged: 2020-09-02 11:35:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20275252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dunuelos/pseuds/Dunuelos
Summary: The Traveler ends up at a World War II Allied air base.





	Simple Observation

**Author's Note:**

> WWII – random. Not a fandom, just based on something I heard once on Public radio. 
> 
> "The Lone Traveler: Young man who tried to change the past and save those he loved… plan failed and became the Lone Traveler, wandering through time and reality, making a difference wherever he went… very powerful… defeated a powerful Dark wizard styling himself a Lord… swept along the path he walked by a spectacular aura of blue light."
> 
> 'Legends & Myths of the Wizarding World' by Gertrude Yolanda

Harry looked around at where he had just arrived. It looked like England – but more primitive. He was guessing WWII. Quickly disillusioning himself, he found what he needed: The exact ID types used during this period.

World War II was not a period which you wanted to walk around without ID: In some places it was shoot first ask questions later. To his amusement, he was at a British airfield pretty far back from the actual fighting. He set himself up as a pilot who was grounded due to injury – he magicked up an arm-cast for himself to look more authentic.

He finally found a mess hall and charmed his way into a meal – the server girls found pilots attractive and they were sometimes found here during medical leave: His cover should hold.

He sat down and ate his meal. He noticed a man nearby absently eating while furiously trying to write out equations, while making notes on what appeared to be the specification sheets for an airplane.

Curious, "Hey, mate. If it's not top secret and I get shot for asking – what are you working on?"

The man, startled, looked up. He scrunched his face. "Who are you?"

"Harry Potter – Pilot. On medical leave." He flipped his "ID" and then showed his cast.

The man nodded – there were pilots like that around. "Well, I'm actually trying to help you boys."

"Oh? How's that?"

"I'm an engineer. The boys at the top asked me to make suggestions as to making the planes less susceptible to getting shot down. Far too many planes and pilots are being lost and I'm trying to work out a formula to increase the armor on the plane without compromising speed. I can only add a limited amount of weight and that's where I'm running into the problem."

Harry nodded. "Yeah I can see that." He paused. "You've looked at some of the birds that have been flying over the continent?"

The man nodded. "One of the first steps in figuring out what to do. You can't imagine … well, maybe _you_ can, being a pilot and all … but most civilians would be shocked at the number of holes our planes come back with."

"Yeah, it can be a dangerous job. But it's got to be done. Still – it'd be nice to see a bit better protection."

The man nodded.

"Hey, I have a question."

"What is it?"

"You notice any patterns?"

The man looked at his notes and nodded. "Yes. A few places where there weren't holes on any of the planes."

"Yeah. That makes sense," Harry replied. "Stands to reason that if those places get holed – the plane never makes it back to base. The places where there are lots of holes but no pilot injuries are the less important spots."

The man looked at him in shock. "That's so obvious I should have seen that right off. Why didn't I see that?"

Harry grinned, "Sometimes you brainy types get all caught up in the details and you need a regular point of view to put it together. Comes from having to carry around those heavy brains in your heads – makes you types tired and all. 'sallright – there's no shame in it."

The man gave a small smile. "Alright then, regular brain bloke, how do we fix it?"

Harry gave a mock shocked look. "You're the engineer mate!" He paused. "But there is something. You know how they've been making some plane bodies using plywood because it's cheaper than steel?"

The man nodded. "It's stronger than straight wood – still gets a lot of holes though."

"Yeah. But you know the Yanks use steel in the planes they send us."

"That's right. It's mild steel because it's easier to shape and weld."

"Well, why not combine the ideas? Instead of making plies from different woods and wood grains, make plies from different quality steels: Mild, hi-carbon, mild, hi carbon – maybe an alloy or two. Maybe make a layer out of pure carbon heated to a crystal structure – crystal carbon like diamond is pretty fucking strong after all. If you can make it just as thick and heavy as the plates they already use but make it a plywood-like construction for just those plates on the bottom, it might be cheap enough to sell to the people at the top and not too hard to actually get made since it's only two or three panels per plane. Get planes retrofitted with the plates ASAP and see if the number shot down doesn't drop quite a lot."

The Engineer looked at the man and then quickly gathered his papers and ran out. Harry chuckled and went back to eating his meal.

* * *

"I have it! I have it! It's so damn obvious!"

The Group Captain in charge of the base watched in amusement and exasperation as the engineer that was hired rushed into his office yelling at the top of his lungs.

"Settle down, man!" he barked out. The man suddenly stopped and looked around. He noticed that the base command was currently in a meeting with a number of his higher ranking subordinates.

"Sorry, Group Captain. But I just figured out that problem I got hired to solve. Well, actually it was one of your pilots that solved it for me."

Curious, the man asked, "One of my pilots?"

"Or a visiting pilot – the name was … Potter. Harry Potter. Anyway – he pointed out the obvious solution."

Alarmed, the Group Captain looked around. "Anyone heard of this Potter fellow?"

The other officers all said no or shook their heads.

The Engineer said, "Well, he was dressed like one and had the ID. Besides – he pointed out what I was missing."

"Where exactly was this?"

"The mess hall."

The Group Captain called out, "Guards! We're going to the mess hall – there's an unaccounted for man on base and this is wartime!"

The engineer shook his head as the whole lot of the command structure rushed out. Did it really matter who the man was? He had solved the problem the Engineer was having and he thought it unlikely that it was a spy. Therefore, he calmly set up his papers and notes and got ready to explain when they came back.

* * *

Harry was finishing the bangers and mash that he had been served when suddenly the door to the almost empty mess hall blew open and a whole bunch of RAF blokes rushed in. Several were carrying rifles. Several rifles were then pointed at him.

"STAND UP AND MOVE AWAY FROM THE TABLE WITH YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR!"

Right then, Harry felt the call and could only smile as he complied. Before anyone could give him more instructions he called back, "Can I say one thing before I get arrested and all of that?"

Seeing that the man was calmly standing there, the Group Captain decided that it wasn't going to hurt and so called back, "Make it quick!"

Harry wandlessly vanished the cast he was wearing as camouflage and said, "When you get to church on Sunday, remember this: While he's a great Boss and wonderful to hang out with, God can be a cheeky bugger."

Harry then grinned and winked and disappeared in ball of blue light right in front of the guards and officers. The room was full of birdsong – and the song was "God Save the King."

The RAF personnel who saw this could only gape as apparently their guest was some time of angel from all appearances.

The Group Captain said, "I really don't know if I want to put this in any report – I'd probably be declared mentally incompetent to hold my position."

His Executive Officer could only say, "Group Captain? I say we didn't see anything."

The Group Captain asked around, "Anyone have a problem with that?"

Still staring at the spot the man disappeared from, there were murmurs of agreement to keep it quiet.


End file.
